Reports also claim it may have been via trade and someone like Anthony Davis, which, sure! If we had anything to trade for him, I'm sure we would've!
However, I think this is now the 3rd or 4th different re-writing from Paul of how the Indy separation occurred, so, who knows?
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/paul-george-claims-pacers-could-have-gotten-star-power-forward-but-chose-not-to-leading-to-his-trade/
"I ain't gon' say the names, because I'm going to keep their business private, I'm just saying it like this," George began. "I had at the time, the best power forward saying he wanted to come to Indy and team up with me. They like 'we're a mid-major, we're a small market, we're can't do it, we're a small market, we can't afford that.'"
At that point, George felt that the team was not committed to winning. That is when he decided to leave.
"What am I doing here? You know what I mean? They don't want to win. I've got the best power forward that wants to come play here. Not everybody chooses Indy to come play here. This dude wanted to come play here. They didn't want to do it."
https://8points9seconds.com/2020/06/23/indiana-pacers-paul-george-signing/
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Remember, this was the roster at the time: